January 7, 2017
Proverbs 7:1-3
My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
CONSIDER THIS
There was a brief time in my life when I had a safety deposit box at the bank. In preparation for my engagement to be married, a gorgeous diamond ring had been passed on to me from my family. It was easily worth more than all my assets combined at the time. I was weeks away from popping the question and I needed to store this jewel in a secure place. Enter the safety deposit box.
About every other day I would walk down to the bank and access it. It was entering the holy of holies. I would have to sign my name at the desk. The attendant swung back the heavy vault door and ushered me inside. Next she used her key to open one of the two locks on the lock box, after which she left and securely closed the vault door. Then I used my key to unlock the other lock. After opening the door I slid the long slender box out and placed it on the table. The box contained one item—a small folding box in which sat the diamond engagement ring. I would take it out and gaze at its many-faceted sparkling splendor. Some days I would leave the bank and take the ring with me on a walk around town, stopping every hundred yards or two to take it out and see how it glimmered in the sunshine.
Today’s text sparked this memory in me. It’s a text about treasuring wisdom. Words and phrases like keeping, storing up and guarding as the apple of one’s eye all get at this act of treasuring. Think about it. What makes a treasure a treasure? It’s the act of treasuring.
Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Over and over throughout Scripture, we hear the Word of God spoken of as treasure. The Word of God, in text and in flesh, are the treasure of all treasures. In fact, we were made to treasure the Word of God. The Word of God is the Wisdom of God.
The big question is whether the Word of God is our treasure. There’s only one way to know. Are we treasuring it? We can say we value it, but in our every day, ordinary, walking around life are we actively treasuring the Word of God? The Word of God can and will be a treasure regardless of whether we treasure it or not. It will only be our treasure to the extent that we learn to treasure it.
Are we keeping and storing up the Word of God in the safety deposit box of our hearts? Are we guarding it as the apple of our eye? Are we writing it on the tablets of our hearts? And yes, are we binding it to our fingers as though it were a priceless diamond ring?
THE PRAYER
Abba Father, thank you for the treasure of your Word. Thank you for causing it to be written down in a book. Even more thank you for the inestimable gift of sending your Word in the person of your Son. We give you our hearts and welcome your words to be written there. Come Holy Spirit and lead us in the way of treasuring the Word of God, which alone is true wisdom. In Jesus name, Amen.
THE QUESTIONS
1. Everyone is actively treasuring something at the core of their life? What am I treasuring?
2. What would it look like for me to take a step forward in treasuring the Word of God?
3. How might I introduce new (or old) practices of treasuring the Word of God in my life? Right now? Tomorrow?
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J.D. Walt, is a Bond Slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. jd.walt@seedbed.com.